The end of human beings treated like experimental animals by the ECHR

JUDGMENT

SUMMARY

The use of a new drug in a patient for experimental reasons without his consent consists of degrading treatment. Infringement of Article 3 of the ECHR.

PROVISION

Article 3

PRINCIPAL FACTS

The applicants, Vladislav Batalin, born in 1977, and his parents, Igor Batalin and Lyudmila Batalina,
born in 1937 and 1938 respectively, are Russian nationals who live in Moscow.

The case concerned Vladislav Batalin’s involuntary confinement and treatment in a psychiatric
hospital between 26 May and 9 June 2005. Having suffered from a number of health issues,
including neurological problems, for several months, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital on
25 May 2005 after he had received emergency aid for having cut the veins on his forearm. He was
diagnosed with a number of diseases, including a chronic pain disorder and a personality disorder.
When his parents arrived at the hospital on the following day to take him home, as he had
requested, they were not allowed to do so and were asked to leave. According to Vladislav Batalin’s
submissions, during the following night he was beaten by the hospital nurses and then strapped to a
bed. He also alleges that he was subjected to scientific research by being treated with a new
antipsychotic drug and forbidden all contact with the outside world. After his release on 9 June
2005, an ambulance doctor noted a haematoma under his eye and bruises and contusions on his
body.

In October 2005, the applicants complained of Vladislav Batalin’s involuntary confinement in the
hospital and his alleged ill-treatment to the Ombudsman of the Russian Federation. After the district
department of the interior had twice refused to open proceedings, criminal proceedings were
eventually opened in November 2006. The proceedings concerning the alleged beatings were
subsequently suspended and reopened on several occasions and they remain pending. The
complaint concerning Vladislav Batalin’s involuntary confinement was later removed from the case
and separate proceedings were opened in October 2007; they were eventually discontinued in
November 2010.

Vladislav Batalin and his parents complained that his involuntary confinement in the hospital had
been in violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) and that he had had no effective
procedure at his disposal by which to challenge the lawfulness of his detention, in breach of Article
5 § 4 (right to have lawfulness of detention decided speedily by a court). They further alleged
violations, in particular, of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) on account of:
his forced psychiatric treatment in the absence of an established medical need and in the framework
of scientific research; and on account of his beatings during his confinement and the lack of an
effective investigation by the authorities in that respect.

Violation of Article 3 (ill-treatment and investigation) – on account of Vladislav Batalin’s ill-treatment
in the psychiatric hospital and failure of the domestic authorities to carry out an effective
investigation